About photography Number 2

A place to swap ideas, share your hobbies, pass on hints and tips and discuss how you spend your free time.

Moderators: DJKeefy, 4u Network

User avatar
LivinginLuxor
Top Member
Top Member
Posts: 991
Joined: Wed Jan 19, 2005 9:50 am
Location: Luxor, Egypt
Been thanked: 249 times
Gender:
Contact:
Egypt

Post by LivinginLuxor »

It could be argued that it is more important - if only to crop out extraneous detail. The film photographers of old only had a few tricks up their sleeves in the darkroom, but with modern software there is a whole range of techniques you can use to improve even a mediocre photo. Most of the in-camera tweaks can be replicated with Photoshop or PSP.

That is not to say that you also need 'the eye' for a good photo.


I might agree with you, but then we'd both be wrong!
Stan
User avatar
Horus
Egyptian God
Egyptian God
Posts: 7933
Joined: Tue Oct 10, 2006 11:59 pm
Location: UK
Has thanked: 2431 times
Been thanked: 1870 times
Gender:
Contact:
United Kingdom

Post by Horus »

LLL, thank you for your kind comments and I have to agree entirely with Stan on this one, you do need an ‘eye‘ for a good picture although a lot can be done with these type of programs to mega tweak your photographs.

A poor photograph will always be a poor photograph regardless of who took it, so everyone usually tries their best to capture that one in a million shot that others admire. Most pictures however tend to fall into the average to good category depending upon your own expertise and of course you should try to use all the photography tricks and camera settings you can to achieve a good picture.

That is why it is so important to really get to know your camera and what it is capable of doing, it is just as important to know what it is not good at doing, although most modern cameras do perform very well. So having done your best to take a really excellent picture, why should you use editing software?
Well there are many reasons, Stan touched on the obvious one which is cropping to various sizes, even a good picture can be made excellent by some judicious cropping.

Having said that, it is not just a case of chopping down the size of your picture, you have to put some real thought into it. Try it for yourself, take a landscape view you have taken and make a copy of the file (keeping the original intact) and using the copy, make various attempts at cropping the picture in various places and sizes, save each one under a new name them open them in a viewer and look at the results, you will be surprised at the differences.

It is also great for removing those annoying bits that have ruined a good picture. A great picture gets spoiled because a bird flies past and leaves a blurred image in the sky or some similar accident. Even a good flower picture that is spoiled by that one blotched petal or a brown leaf can be rescued providing you have the tools to do the job. To me it is no different to the other aspects of photography such as applying filters or creating various depths of field, they are all just tools to be used.
Remember, even Cindy Crawford gets touched up! ;)

A picture is a picture, regardless of how we have created it, everything we do is stage managed to a larger or lesser degree so to me the two go hand in hand. You will never make a ‘Silk purse out of a sow's ear’ so you have to have something decent to start with, but to me editing software and the skill to use it is just as important as taking the picture in the first place and is an important part of modern day photography, that is why all professional people will use it to some degree.
Image
User avatar
LivinginLuxor
Top Member
Top Member
Posts: 991
Joined: Wed Jan 19, 2005 9:50 am
Location: Luxor, Egypt
Been thanked: 249 times
Gender:
Contact:
Egypt

Post by LivinginLuxor »

The clone brush is also an excellent tool - here, you can hardly take a decent picture of say, Qurnet Murai or the nobles tombs from the road, as the power cables are in the way! I usually clone them out to produce a better picture.
I might agree with you, but then we'd both be wrong!
Stan
User avatar
PRchick
Senior Member
Senior Member
Posts: 256
Joined: Fri Jan 14, 2005 4:45 pm
Location: Southern USA
Contact:

Post by PRchick »

That's really good work Horus. As good as a professional artist. PS is not that easy to use and you have a real eye for it. Thanks for sharing.
A man who has had a bull by the tail once has learned 10 to 20 times more than a man who has not.
~Mark Twain~
User avatar
Horus
Egyptian God
Egyptian God
Posts: 7933
Joined: Tue Oct 10, 2006 11:59 pm
Location: UK
Has thanked: 2431 times
Been thanked: 1870 times
Gender:
Contact:
United Kingdom

Post by Horus »

Thank you for your kind comment :)
Image
User avatar
Grandad
Senior Member
Senior Member
Posts: 444
Joined: Wed Nov 15, 2006 10:13 pm
Location: SE England
Has thanked: 75 times
Been thanked: 163 times
Gender:
United Kingdom

Post by Grandad »

Horus said:
Stan touched on the obvious one which is cropping to various sizes, even a good picture can be made excellent by some judicious cropping
Whilst I am not claiming this to be a good picture, it was a grab shot through the small sliding side window of a moving cahboot, I have posted it to illustrate that sometimes there is an acceptable picture lurking in a poor snap.

Image

I was finding it difficult to find something for this months comp and cropped and strightened to produce this for my entry.

Image
Grandad :gg:
LovelyLadyLux
Egyptian Pharaoh
Egyptian Pharaoh
Posts: 3253
Joined: Sun Nov 22, 2009 2:27 am
Has thanked: 559 times
Been thanked: 1591 times
Canada

Post by LovelyLadyLux »

Excellent Grandad! These are truly the type of photos I thrive on cause nobody is 'posing', the photo conveys something about daily life - it is REAL. Nothing construed, fake or artificial about this. Love it AND with the 'editing' you truly enhanced this to give a snapshot of 'life' as it is NOW. GREAT photo! TY for sharing (and exemplifying what editing can do. Love you guys examples with photos! They explain more to me than techie talk words AND give me lots to aspire to as well)
User avatar
Grandad
Senior Member
Senior Member
Posts: 444
Joined: Wed Nov 15, 2006 10:13 pm
Location: SE England
Has thanked: 75 times
Been thanked: 163 times
Gender:
United Kingdom

Post by Grandad »

Thank you for your nice comments LLL :)

Not wishing to labour the point about cropping, which is probably the most used editing function, my original picture was only 6mb but even that level will allow some pretty drastic cropping.

I called this 'Generation Gap' in my album because focussing in on the two characters has created yet another image.

Image

So if taking a particular picture the aim should be to fill the frame with the important elements of the scene. If however you work at a high definition, say at least 10mb, a general scene will often produce several pictures in one......needs to be in focus of course. :)
Grandad :gg:
User avatar
Horus
Egyptian God
Egyptian God
Posts: 7933
Joined: Tue Oct 10, 2006 11:59 pm
Location: UK
Has thanked: 2431 times
Been thanked: 1870 times
Gender:
Contact:
United Kingdom

Post by Horus »

Thanks for posting the examples Grandad, they exactly illustrate my point about cropping pictures to good effect. :)

Also to emphasise the usefulness of the 'Clone' brush that Stan mentioned, I have taken a photograph of an unusually angled canal bridge that I quite like. Unfortunately it is marred by the ugly pipework and steel gantry that passes in front of it. In literally 10 minutes, I had used the clone brush to edit out the pipe, its shadow and the gantry. I then added a few ferns and bushes to make the picture more presentable.

Before clone brushing
Image

After clone brushing.
Image
Image
User avatar
Horus
Egyptian God
Egyptian God
Posts: 7933
Joined: Tue Oct 10, 2006 11:59 pm
Location: UK
Has thanked: 2431 times
Been thanked: 1870 times
Gender:
Contact:
United Kingdom

Post by Horus »

As we have had a quiet week with all those server errors, I had another play on the PSP and used one of my swan pictures to create this offering :D
Image

This is the original picture that I took and the above picture is an example of creating something new from an existing picture in your collection.
Image
Image
User avatar
Grandad
Senior Member
Senior Member
Posts: 444
Joined: Wed Nov 15, 2006 10:13 pm
Location: SE England
Has thanked: 75 times
Been thanked: 163 times
Gender:
United Kingdom

Post by Grandad »

Amazing effect H :) enhanced by the clear reflection......the swan really stands out from the background.

LLL will love that one :)

Yes it has been quiet; no; ghostly for about a week. True the white server error screens tended to put one off. Surprisingly Sunday is usually hopeless but today has just been a bit slow....

Must find something to contribute and keep things going :) Andy is back and perhaps he will find our new HOBBIES AND PASTIMES FORUM and join in......................
Grandad :gg:
User avatar
LivinginLuxor
Top Member
Top Member
Posts: 991
Joined: Wed Jan 19, 2005 9:50 am
Location: Luxor, Egypt
Been thanked: 249 times
Gender:
Contact:
Egypt

Post by LivinginLuxor »

The 3 About Photography forums does seem a little confusing. Why not start a few new topics that are more relevant like:-

Photo Technique
Photo Editing and manipulation
Cameras and their abilities

That should cover almost everything and would be less confusing!
I might agree with you, but then we'd both be wrong!
Stan
User avatar
bigken
Junior Member
Junior Member
Posts: 56
Joined: Mon Jun 12, 2006 9:16 pm
Location: Republic Of Mancunia
Has thanked: 6 times
Vietnam

Post by bigken »

LivinginLuxor wrote:The 3 About Photography forums does seem a little confusing. Why not start a few new topics that are more relevant like:-

Photo Technique
Photo Editing and manipulation
Cameras and their abilities

That should cover almost everything and would be less confusing!

Makes sense :)

Image
User avatar
Horus
Egyptian God
Egyptian God
Posts: 7933
Joined: Tue Oct 10, 2006 11:59 pm
Location: UK
Has thanked: 2431 times
Been thanked: 1870 times
Gender:
Contact:
United Kingdom

Post by Horus »

I actually started this particular thread (Photography 2) as a home for the photo manipulation topic, so as not to get it mixed up with general camera stuff. Apart from a few odd bits that have crept into the thread most posts in this section are about photo editing :) The others were really as a result of the original general camera & picture thread getting a bit long.

Maybe the topic headings should be changed to reflect:
Photo Technique & Photo Editing and manipulation as seperate threads, but not so sure about one for Cameras and their abilities as a seperate thread as I don't think it would have much information to impart that is not already available on a camera companies web site, once we have all detailed our own cameras that is, or have I missed the point?
Image
GDB_London
Junior Member
Junior Member
Posts: 24
Joined: Thu Jun 24, 2010 4:53 pm
Location: London & Egypt

Post by GDB_London »

[quote="Horus"]As we have had a quiet week with all those server errors, I had another play on the PSP and used one of my swan pictures to create this offering :D
Image

This is the original picture that I took and the above picture is an example of creating something new from an existing picture in your collection.
Image[/quote

Stunning :)
User avatar
Grandad
Senior Member
Senior Member
Posts: 444
Joined: Wed Nov 15, 2006 10:13 pm
Location: SE England
Has thanked: 75 times
Been thanked: 163 times
Gender:
United Kingdom

Post by Grandad »

I tend to agree with Horus with regards to Cameras and Their Abilities.

I DO think it inevitable that some of those 'abilities' will feature in the Photo Techniques topic so, apart from manufacturers specs etc. abilities, or the lack or limitation of them, will become apparent under techniques.

The general photography topic has been running for about 5 months and during that time several contributors have posted pictures from an outing in their local area.

Whilst we all agree that our favoured forum, Luxor4U, is Luxor and Egypt focussed, these digressions give a flavour of the areas in which some members live. Hopefully more international members will contribute and I think that we should also have a topic Pictures From My Locality. The aim being that they should be good quality pictures. Anyone agree????
Grandad :gg:
User avatar
LivinginLuxor
Top Member
Top Member
Posts: 991
Joined: Wed Jan 19, 2005 9:50 am
Location: Luxor, Egypt
Been thanked: 249 times
Gender:
Contact:
Egypt

Post by LivinginLuxor »

I think you have - several people have come here to say that they can't understand their new camera and its settings, so I thouht it would be a good advice topic.
I might agree with you, but then we'd both be wrong!
Stan
User avatar
Horus
Egyptian God
Egyptian God
Posts: 7933
Joined: Tue Oct 10, 2006 11:59 pm
Location: UK
Has thanked: 2431 times
Been thanked: 1870 times
Gender:
Contact:
United Kingdom

Post by Horus »

Maybe I misunderstood your suggested topic heading of Cameras and Their Abilities. if as it seems you are proposing a thread for people to ask for help about their own particular camera and how certain unfamiliar buttons and functions work, or maybe some other query regarding their camera that is either unfamiliar or just downright baffling, then I would agree. From the heading I was thinking it was intended to be more along the lines of a discussion of what is available in the camera market.
Image
User avatar
Grandad
Senior Member
Senior Member
Posts: 444
Joined: Wed Nov 15, 2006 10:13 pm
Location: SE England
Has thanked: 75 times
Been thanked: 163 times
Gender:
United Kingdom

Post by Grandad »

And how about Comments and Suggestions (call it Critique if you like).

Would that fit in somewhere. There are often occasions when we might see some way to improve a picture (at least from an individual opinion). I always welcome critical comment, even if I don't accept it. :)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

By the way, what has happened with the comp? I thought Egyptophile had nominated 'Your favourite holiday picture of the last 12 months'?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Got another lens today, Nikkor 55 - 200 so a new toy to play with.......

Bye for now :)
Grandad :gg:
User avatar
Horus
Egyptian God
Egyptian God
Posts: 7933
Joined: Tue Oct 10, 2006 11:59 pm
Location: UK
Has thanked: 2431 times
Been thanked: 1870 times
Gender:
Contact:
United Kingdom

Post by Horus »

I was out with the camera the other day and spotted a cultivated plant that was growing in the wild. It is some sort of cultivated 'Sea Holly' (I think) and it grows to about 5 feet high, What first attracted me was the blue aura that seemed to surround the flower heads, but as I looked at it I was amazed by the amount of bees that it was attracting, so I took several pictures.
The following is a composite picture using some of these photographs, although the colour of the flower heads and the Bumble bees remains unchanged.

Image
Image
Post Reply
  • Similar Topics
    Replies
    Views
    Last post